Politically Correct Speech

In Politics and the English Language George Orwell stated that the written word has become elaborate without basis. He particularly used the example of political speeches of his day to drive home his point. He preached, that we all need to utilize some rules to make speech more user friendly for the listener without clouding real messages or meanings with sugar frosting that does not add to the narrative, but simply confuses him. He wants us to stop using ready made metaphors, long words, passive language, foreign phrases, scientific words or jargon. Further, he argues that political writings tend to justify bad deeds while failures of the current administration are misconstrued as victories or at least work in progress. The type of language used misleads the common man into unquestioning support for the government who they falsely believe can be trusted on faith and fancy rhetoric alone.

While Martin Luther King’s famous I Have a Dream speech and John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address keeps in most part to Orwell’s rules, the two Georges, Wallace and Bush speeches blatantly break these rules. King’s speech while powerful, emotive and provocative is still simple in approach and makes its point visually without compromising on factual information or truths. On the other hand George Bush’s State Of the Union Address in the aftermath of the September 11, attacks is full of half truths and distortions and false bravado of victories of the war on terror. The truth was the US troops were not winning the war in Afghanistan, and conditions for the locals were far from the picture perfect impression his speech gave. Further, in  his speech the language used is longwinded, “across oceans and continents, across mountaintops and caves” showcasing unnecessary word usage where simplicity would have sufficed. Bush in fact was often admonished and even mocked as having very little command of the English language in spite of his Anglo Saxon heritage. The media coined his many gaffes as Bushisms which has now been accepted in Webster dictionary as a new word.

New words and phrases parallels Orwell’s novel 1984 where Newspeak and entries into revised dictionaries were an intricate part of his plot. In his novel Orwell showed that by simplification of the current language and the deletion of many words, this would allow the government of his futuristic city to control the people who would simply not have the vocabulary to protest. Therefore, I am a little surprised by his article as it is as if he has become ‘Big Brother’ himself and is taking away our right to express ourselves freely without constraints or rules. Again as I stated earlier in my last blog, metaphors and the like add colorful imagery to our words and are emotive and capture the readers or listeners attention. While political speeches need to be clear and concise there is always a little room for artistic flair to bring life as well as meaning to our words. Just look at the brilliant speech writing of Obama whose words alone allowed him to create history by becoming the first Black American President “Yes We Can”, will go down in the annals of history as a much copied and used phrase to much effect. Are you listening Mr. Orwell?